Sony WM-D6C Professional Walkman

Since the dawn of portable transistor radios and the
development of the Dansette record player into home entertainment and hi-fi
systems we have become used to seeing a new model, usually with a new external
design and new features, every few months. By the time you read the manual, when
there was one, two new models had come out.

There are always exceptions. The Sony WM-D6C was released in
1984 and continued in production until 2002. My two samples have serial numbers
124264 (April 1988, £225) and 231338 (March 1991, £230). There are changes to the circuit boards but the
external design and specification remained the same. I had dropped the earlier
machine and was told it was not repairable. Several years later, at a
significant cost, the Sony Service Centre did an effective repair. Alas Sony now
demand more than 'a pound of flesh' to look at any product out of warranty
effectively making all products non-economical to service.

"Sony WM-D6C recorders after US serial number 267,201 (Canada
270,001; AEP 269,301; UK 269,601; E [Europe] 270,001) feature a glass epoxy
circuit board instead of the old phenolic one. This greatly improves durability
and reliability, although the jacks and record level control remain weak spots.
In preference buy the new version -- you can only tell by the
serial number, located under the battery case1."

The Sony Walkman was the natural development of the pocket
sized cassette recorder. In 1972 I had a pocketable Sony TC-55 which allowed me
to record lectures and from the radio. 1982 I purchased a pair of Sony TCM-600
to use with the NewBrain computer which had a pair of tape recorder controls
allowing data to be read from one tape and output results to another. The TC-55
and TCM-600 both have built in microphones as well as accepting a 3.5mm mini
jacket for an external microphone. As early as 1974 I saw these as being the
centre of a the idea student's entertainment system and even suggested, at a
hi-fi show, to the Aiwa engineer, that they should include an interface to clip
on a radio as volume control, speakers and ear phones were already part of the
cassette recorder. Olympus did in fact make a version of the Pearlcorder that
did exactly that with a microcassette recorder and had AM and separate FM clip
on modules. Aiwa did a similar product using a standard compact cassette.

Then, in 1979, Sony came out with the stereo walkman - a
playback only device. I first heard of it from the DJ Kenny Everett who played a
commercial music cassette over the airwaves to demonstrate the mind blowing
quality. I was not impressed; after all my TC-55 had a better specification and
wider frequency range, although mono. Also I already owned a Uher CR240 professional portable
cassette deck in 1978 and was familiar with the Sony TC-D5.

I upgraded my portable deck to a Uher CR160 - less expensive
than the CR240 and with Dolby C as well as Dolby B. I also plugged this into my
car's Blaupunkt stereo radio enabling me to record from the radio as well as
playback cassettes through the car's hi-fi speakers - Visonik David 5001. I can
also plug the Visonik David 5001 speakers directly into the speaker outputs of
the Uhers.

In 1987 I commuted to London, and for over three months had a
three hour trip to Guilford. The Sony WM-D6C was the ideal choice. The ultimate
standard cassette walkman with professional level of recording and play back
that matched domestic decks costing considerably more. I never really worked out
which was better, my Uher CR240, CR160 or the WM-D6C.

When walking, or cycling I hung the WM-D6C under my armpit and
under my clothes. This allowed easy access to the controls and prevented it from
dropping from my shoulder or jumping out of an inside pocket. The microphone
could also be feed down the arm sleeve for more concealment and protection
against the elements.

The Sony WM-D6C can also use metal cassettes, truly top of
the line, state of art cassette recorder. The matching headphones in fact doubled
up as very effective microphone making it possible to record without anyone
realising the fact, even if they spotted the "walkman".

Correctly set up with an external microphone, such as the Sony
ECM-909, produced very acceptable recordings rivalling the Uher with AKG
electric condenser microphones. At some concerts I was allowed to set up and
make recordings with a quality that compares well with the artist's released
vinyl records.

I have used the Sony WM-D6C along with the Uher CR240 and
CR160 to transfer to a digital juke box. The recording, whether stored as a WAVE
file or a 192kbit/s MP3 retains the quality as heard on the original recording.
Some of my live recordings go back to the TC-55 and the TC-600 no longer play
back at the correct speed. Fortunately the 'Pro' machines are working well and
the Uhers can still be serviced. Clearly cassette tape was never as good as
vinyl or CD. Tape hiss and print through are apparent on the older recordings.
However the quality is high enough that you can forget about the short comings
and enjoy the recordings with a new lease of life as digital media played back
though your hi-fi or on your mobile phone, MP3 player or iPod.